Crews conduct search for Brittanee Drexel in Charleston County

McCLELLANVILLE, SC (WCSC/WMBF) - More than 50 people searched a heavily wooded area in Charleston County Sunday, looking for clues in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel.

Search crews used horses, ATV teams and K-9 units during the search for the missing New York teen. The Myrtle Beach Police Department is handling the investigation.

Between 50-75 people were involved in Sunday's search which began at 8 a.m. near the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Rutledge Road in McClellanville.

Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, was present at the search. She said that Sunday's search was the 47th conducted since her daughter disappeared. She said she has attended all of them. She also said that the search was the farthest outside of the Myrtle Beach area thus far.

Authorities from Kershaw County, Georgetown County and Tallahassee, Fla. were all involved in the search. Monica Caison, spokeswoman for A group called Community United Effort, Center for Missing Persons, is part of the search group.

Police say Drexel was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009. Drexel was 17 at the time of her disappearance.

Search crews have launched efforts across the Myrtle Beach, but all efforts have been unsuccessful. A 70-person crew combed part of Georgetown County, locating a pair of Prada knock-off sunglasses near a body of water. Investigators say those sunglasses were the same as those worn by Drexel in a picture Drexel took with friends prior to her disappearance.

Drexel's story gained national attention after the 17-year-old visited Myrtle Beach during spring break of 2009, and was never seen again.

Drexel and her friends were staying in the Bar Harbor Hotel along Ocean Boulevard that week in April. Drexel was caught on a surveillance camera around 8:15 p.m., Saturday, April 25, 2009, walking along the boulevard to visit friends staying at the Bluewater Resort.

Drexel was then recorded on the hotel's surveillance camera some thirty minutes later leaving the Bluewater Resort, returning to her hotel approximately 20 blocks away.

Somewhere within that 20 block walk, something would go very wrong, leaving police, family, and friends trying to put together the pieces of how Brittanee Drexel seemingly vanished.

Police received hundreds of tips concerning Drexel's whereabouts, all of which turned out to be nothing more than a dead end.

CrimeStoppers of the Lowcountry continues to offer a reward for any information on Drexel's whereabouts. Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.